No good deed ....

Here is the link to a story from The New York Times about a NYC program to provide more vendors of fresh produce in low income areas. Who could argue with that? Read on:

In the No Good Deed Goes Unpunished category, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg came up with a plan to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to low-income New Yorkers, and he got hit with rotten tomatoes from city street vendors.

The mayor’s plan — to provide an extra 1,500 cart permits for vendors willing to sell produce in neighborhoods underserved by grocery stores — has been widely hailed by public health advocates. The city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene says it will make it easier for an estimated 100,000 residents to buy vegetables. But today a few dozen street vendors held a demonstration at City Hall, with the group saying that the proposal neglects to help the people on the other side of the food cart. Rafael Samanez, the director of the advocacy group Vamos Unidos, said an extra 1,500 cart permits, under the city’s proposed Green Cart legislation, is far too low for the demand of street vendors. “The city has failed to meet the needs of thousands of low-income workers,” he said.

Later...

Mr. Samanez’s group said there is a current waiting list of 2,500 people seeking cart permits and estimates another 9,000 vendors are operating without permits. The group said the city has maintained the current limit, of 3,000 food carts and 853 merchandise carts, since 1979.

TK: The Green Cart legislation sounds like a win-win for vendors and NYC residents, notwithstanding the pent up demand for vendor permits to sell hot dogs, pretzels and more. It would be fascinating, in time, to see how individual vendors differentiate themselves and uniquely cater to customers.